Psoas/hip flexor weakness and tendonitis

[Ljpviper]

Thought I would post this one in the general section.


Just a word of warning to all recovering. Be really careful with your hip flexor when recovering. I am 3 months out from Dr. Gross, doing great until this past week. I thought I would ramp up my excersise, so just practiced climbing one stair up and down for maybe 10 minutes straight on Tuesday, plus my normal hip phase 2 excersises.


I really aggravated my psoas, hopefully not full blown tendonitis. My glutes are firing perfect so it was not glute weakness. Back to dosing ibuprofen and just walking in the pool.


Happy 4th to all.


Larry

[catfriend]

Yes, it's very easy to overdo it. Guilty myself, more than once, even when I knew I was overdoing it at the time. (Example: my nearly 1000 mile drive at one shot, gardening, etc.) Even now, at 5 1/2 months post op and I want to ramp it up I have to be careful not to overdo it. Once you're feeling better you want to get better faster, and do all the things you did before you had problems. Only problem is your muscles aren't where your mind is, and they're going to get better and strengthen on their schedule. Sometimes the muscles need rest. Sometimes you need to go more slowly to go faster, counterintuitive though it may seem. Don't worry, you will get better. I'm currently up to 5-6 mile hikes <500 foot elevation gains.

[livendive]

This is a gradual process. I'm at 18 months right hip, 16 months left, and still aggravate my psoas & hip flexor, especially on the left side, where I had some post-op issues in the illiopsoas.  I've been backpacking a half dozen times this year and find that with a full (30-35 lb) pack, my limit is around 5-6 miles per day with any significant of elevation gain.  About a month ago I was pretty uncomfortable 5 miles in and 1500 feet up, so two weeks ago I added trekking poles into the equation and they seem to help quite a bit.  I had no significant pain at the 5 mile mark with 1800' of ascent + descent (900' each), two days in a row.  Currently running stairs at a local high school stadium 3-4 times a week with no hip discomfort at after 30-40 minutes (my quads complain, but that's the point  )  Walking on flat ground, I have no discomfort at 7-8 miles, but running on flat ground my left hip starts complaining at about 2-3 miles.

[Ljpviper]

Its finally getting a little better. I had to stop doing any type of lower body exercise and just rest. Not even stretches as that would irritate it more. Non stop heat/ice and anti inflammatory for the last 3 days. I was able to work from home so I have been just working laying back not seated at 90 degrees.

Lesson learned, cant push it, hopefully it keeps getting better. My psoas has been a problem since 09 when I first got injured.

Thanks,

Larry

[snorbert zangox]

Just had my hip resurfaced 5 weeks ago- 4 years of hip flexor tendinitis prior to that.  For me, eccentric strengthening has been a magic bullet for this problem, both pre and post op.  Here is a link to an article about rehab from hip arthroscopy (I've been there and done that, too).  Scroll down to Fig 2.  If you don't have a burly therapist to help you, you can use a pair of ski poles to help you back up without firing the iliopsoas.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3535124/

Some day I'll make a video if I can bet my kid to help me.   

[Ljpviper]

Thanks, yeah I was getting better, I must have aggravated it again. I also had it from my scopes. I will check out the link.

Larry

[Quig]

Larry, I'm having good luck using a foam roller on my grumpy hip flexors (psoas?). I read on here I think in one of Chuck's posts about using a trigger point therapy ball so I purchased it and a foam roller. Both are pretty darn useful and really are soothing on sore soft tissue. I'm sure I look like a weirdo rolling around on the floor on the dang things but if it's helpful I don't care...

[karlos.bell]

  Hi Ljpviper. Hi Larry. Don't give up on it yet. I had an injury 2007 wakeboarding and from there I could never walk. Was on crutches for 7 years until I had Hip resurfacing. I am not going to bleat on about it what I am saying I never gave up on it.  I had groin pain massive it would send me crazy and the drugs could not touch the side of it. Ok it was proven by Dr De Smet the joint was the issue and yes it is. But I still had groin pain after wards. Ok what I have found now little may be worth doing is Glut Max, Quads, Tensor, all have in common to help out the Psoas. The Psoas is one of the strongest muscles in the body so it is pretty hard to damage. Try squats no leg presses just Glut Max Hold onto a rope or something so you get the full ROM down past a squat. See if this helps at first it may be uncomfortable then it may get better. Doing no glut squats was the worse thing for me. Doing them has started the ball rolling as the joint can now cope. Try it first don't give up yet.
Cheers Karl

[Ljpviper]

Hey snorbert zangox,

  I tried that exercise on the link. I have never seen that before in all my hip rehab protocols. I actually put a small seat next to a post, I lifted myself forward with my right arm. You can feel the Psoas work when you lean back at a certain angle. I did 2 sets of 10. Going to do them again tonight. I am not any worse today.

Very interesting, I will keep at it and report back, could be very useful for others in solving this psoas issues.

Larry